The video was played twice during the Live Aid event: the first before Bowie’s set, where it was introduced via satellite by the comedian Chevy Chase, and the second time as a filler when the Who’s reunion set suffered sound problems. It has been described as “campy”,”cheesy” and “embarrassing”. Radio X’s Martin O’Gorman remarked: “It’s [Bowie and Jagger’s] playful irreverence that causes many people to cringe.” Readers of The Guardian rated it the worst music video of all time in 2014, while NME placed it at No. 12 in their list of the 50 worst music videos ever. In a 2011 episode of Family Guy, Peter Griffin refers to the video as “the gayest music video of all time”, after which it is played in its entirety. After its conclusion, Griffin states: “That happened and we all let it happen.” In the 2010s, a “silent” version of the video was uploaded to YouTube, featuring grunts and shuffles instead of the music. Bowie himself was a fan of the video, with guitarist Ben Monder saying: “He thought it was hilarious and would just have us watch the whole thing [during the Blackstar sessions].

Here are both the “real” and the “no music” versions of the video so you can decide for yourself. I think both are pure gold.

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Mostly I loved the video which MTV played in heavy rotation. I seem to recall critics panning it mercilessly (NME rates it as the 12th worst video ever, describing it as “two rock legends having a nasty outbreak of Fibromyalgia and in the process invent the ‘old men who look like lesbians’ craze’”) but it always seemed to me that the two Brit rockers were just having a ball, the biggest rock stars in the world giddily singing and literally dancing in the street. Jagger’s son, James, had this to say, “The ‘Dancing in the Street’ video, which is hilarious…whenever I’m feeling blue, I just google ‘Dancing in the Street,’ and it makes me laugh. It’s so ’80s, it’s amazing.“ I did and I agree. It’s brilliant, unintentionally hysterical, juxtaposing Jagger’s unbridled gumby-limbed enthusiasm with Bowie’s ultra-suave cool and sly humor.  Go and watch it now!

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Live Aid happened 30 years ago today, July 13th 1985. This is my original t-shirt from the event which I did not go to but donated money (or rather I begged my dad to let me use his credit card to call to donate) so I could get the shirt. It was a hot summer day and our neighbors down the road were having a wedding reception so I kept running home to watch Live Aid on TV (no VHS recorder and DVR’ing didn’t exist of course). I sobbed during U2′s performance when Bono pulled a girl onstage during “Bad;” squealed with delight when Duran Duran performed “The Reflex” and sobbed again during “Save a Prayer” (then, sadly, cringed at THAT NOTE in “View To A Kill” but I forgave Simon because Duran Duran were the biggest thing in my 14-year-old life that summer).

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